They had a wonderful honeymoon. Having Adam's undivided attention for a week was amazing and they had so much fun but had to get back to reality all too soon.
Erica was fairly bored being off for the summer since he was working and ended up spending a lot of time drawing. She always showed him what she had worked on when he got home and he told her that she was getting better all the time. That made her happy.
The only other things of interest that happened all summer were the camping trip and going to Disney World when Julie's family visited for Labor Day weekend. The younger Mitchells were so jealous and wanted to go too.
"We can take you next year," Erica told them, noting the extremely conflicted look on her husband's face. He obviously wanted to offer but didn't know if she would be okay with paying for that.
The twins did a sort of victory dance after that, which was pretty funny. Once the two of them were back home, Adam looked at her seriously.
"Are you really okay with taking them? Paying for everyone to go will cost a lot."
"It won't take more than a few months to save for it. Now that your car is paid off, we can put what used to be your car payment toward it. I don't mind going again next year. I love Disney World."
Erica's family had gone every year growing up. Besides, seeing the Mitchells' reactions to an amusement park would no doubt be hilarious.
Adam smiled and kissed her. "Thanks, Erica."
"No problem."
Things got back into their usual routine from when they were engaged once the new school year started. She wouldn't exactly say things were peaceful because of how intense his family was and how much time they spent with them but she was used to the chaos by now.
There weren't any major problems and everyone was happy. That was what mattered.
Time went on. Colton got a girlfriend, Evan graduated from high school, and Sarah got a promotion that came with a big enough raise that she no longer needed her sons to help her out financially. She put her foot down rather vehemently about it.
Colton was relieved because this allowed him to move out and share a place with Alison. Evan ended up doing the same with his girlfriend Katie less than a year later. With only three kids left at home, things were much more manageable for Sarah anyway.
Adam had been reluctant at first but didn't have a problem with it anymore after Evan moved out because he knew that would help. Without having to send his family any money, he was finally okay with trying for a baby.
Erica was thrilled. It was nice having a few good years with just the two of them but she was admittedly baby hungry because so many of her coworkers had them now.
They were able to buy a three-bedroom house when she was two months pregnant and she loved having more space and an actual yard to garden in. She had always enjoyed helping her mom out in the garden.
When they finally announced their pregnancy, their siblings were thrilled to have their first niece or nephew. Her parents were excited for another grandchild too but Sarah was beside herself with joy to have her first and actually cried as she hugged them both.
Everyone had plenty of name suggestions but all were vetoed. Adam didn't trust any of his siblings' input, especially after the debate over what made a baby name terrible or not broke out at a Sunday dinner.
The tradition started after Adam's younger brothers started moving out because it guaranteed everyone would be in the same place at least once a week. Though everyone was always coming and going from the house anyway.
They still saw everyone plenty between getting various baked goods from Colton, going to the twins' sports games, and Adam helping with whatever home or car repairs needed to be done. That was just how things were in this family but Erica didn't mind because Adam was spending a lot more time with just her than he had when they were in school.
She knew that their kids would take greater priority over his siblings once they were born because of how excitedly he had talked about all the things he wanted to do with them as soon as they found out she was pregnant. He would always love them and help them if they genuinely needed it but they really didn't need him as much anymore and he had seen that for himself. It had helped him relax a bit.
"What do you think of doing some sort of name theme?" Erica asked curiously after they went home following that name debate.
Julie had given both of her kids O names. Her son's name was Owen. But if she had any more kids, her options would be severely limited because there weren't very many normal O names out there.
"Like Julie?" Adam asked, thinking about the same lines.
"Maybe not exactly like Julie. Maybe having a letter for boys and a different letter for girls so there are more options."
"Huh. I kind of like that. But which letters?"
Erica had to think about it. She laughed when a funny idea came to her. "What about E and A? We could even switch it so all the boys had E names and the girls had A ones."
"What boy names are there other than Evan? I can't think of any off the top of my head and there's no way I'm naming a kid after him," Adam said flatly.
That made her laugh again. "I can think of Elijah, Ethan, Ezra, Edward, and Eric off the top of my head."
"Most of those are pretty old fashioned."
"Eh, that's what nicknames are for. We could always have an Eli or Eddie."
"Eli isn't bad. Why not just do that straight up? Bypass the old-fashioned name entirely," Adam suggested.
That could work. Eli was cute. "What about A names for girls? I feel like there are a lot more of those to choose from but I'm drawing a blank right now aside from Alison but we can't use that."
"Hmm…Alice, Ariana, Avery—but that's Jenna's middle name so it would be weird—Audrey, Anna—"
"Ooh, I like Anna. Short and sweet, kind of like Eli."
Adam smiled warmly at her. "Anna or Eli it is. I suppose we'll find out soon enough."
The ultrasound was scheduled a few weeks out. She thought the anticipation might kill her. When they were finally in the waiting room, she couldn't stop bouncing her knee and he put his hand on it so it bounced right along with it.
The goo they spread on her stomach to make the ultrasound work felt super weird but she dismissed that because she was too excited to see her baby on the screen.
"Congratulations!" the nurse exclaimed. "It's a boy!"
"Eli," they both said in unison as they grinned at each other.
They were thrilled to be having a boy but so was everyone else when they shared the news. She called her mom immediately but Adam figured they should just wait to tell his family until they saw them on Sunday.
"More testosterone. Just what we need around here," Colton said with a laugh. "Congrats, guys!"
"Oh, he's going to be so cute!" Jenna squealed.
"Yeah, even if he is half Adam. At least he has Erica's genes going for him," Jonas said, earning him a smack upside the head.
Erica was tempted to smack him too. She would love if their son looked like his father. She had married a handsome man. Jonas was always obnoxious though.
"It would be a lot worse if he looked like you, JoJo," Adam said in annoyance.
"Shut up! You aren't allowed to call me that!"
Jonas had decided that JoJo was a baby name when he was ten and only let Jenna and his mom call him that anymore. He put up a fuss every time someone else did because they always did it mockingly. Or so he claimed.
Honestly, Erica thought he dug his own grave there. His brothers called him JoJo because they were used to it and didn't start doing it mockingly on purpose until they knew he got annoyed with it. They could be so immature but, to be fair, Jonas was usually the one starting it. Whatever 'it' was at the time.
She had no doubt that he—and quite likely the others as well—would be terrible influences on Eli but also had no doubt that her son would be very loved and spoiled with so many uncles and aunts. It was nice having a lot of family. Chaos and all.